Sunset Symphony
by Usachiru
Summary: The world is collapsing and heroes must arise. Sora, a typical high school student is thrown into a war between 2 worlds he never knew existed. When he investigated the scene a soldier captures him. He is taken to Sylvarant, the Capital of the Azure Sky a
1. Prologue

A/N: Sunset Symphony is a remake of the first fanfic (Kingdom Hearts 2: Azure Dance) I have ever finished sweat Well if you read it, you probably know why just cause it somehow moved from a Mai Otome setting to a Suikoden-Erementar Gerad-Shakugan no Shana setting… If you didn't… its best to just leave it to the unknown Oo;;; ONWARD! To the hopefully better version of Azure Dance!

-Sunset Symphony-

: Verse 0 :

Prologue

I never thought that I would smell the blood of war… that disgusting feeling of having a person die by your hand.

Who knew that I, a lowly average student, would be the main reason of this foolish squabble?

I did nothing. Is it always the fate of a lord to hurt others? Let it be animals, humans… Flame Haze… or Ferines…

Sapphires and Rubies meant nothing to my real life… if I even have one as of yet.

Why must miniscule arguments involve everyone?

The princess' fate only to be decided by such a tragedy as such…

We as humans… as human beings are to strive together… yet this futile war is keeping all three streams to truly live…

Does the Star of Legacy truly exist? And if did…

Will that day come where the Guardian Star finally shine gladly upon me?

Chances are…


	2. Verse I: Savior

Sunset Symphony

: Verse I :

Savior

"One day that savior will rise tall and put an end to three hundred on going war of the skies. Where Sylvarant and Guze will- BAH" exclaims a dark haired teen, "ITS SO LONG!"

"Keep reading…" says a silver blue haired man.

"What's the point!" Exclaims one, "If this savior's cute only THEN will I-"

SMACK!

The woman in front of her hit the poor teen with a silver staff and saying, "Remember this is part of your studies! One more year then-"

"I know, I know…" says the teen, "I'll get married…"

The teen's voice almost pierced their hearts. They both knew it was the princesses' duty to marry the leader of the 13th order, yet…

"So!" exclaims the teen that had already recovered from her emotional state, "When's he coming?"

The other two stood still, not saying a word.

"It… is a guy right?" says the younger one.

"It's not that…" starts the older woman.

"My gosh!" exclaims the energetic teen, "u mean a her…her…maphro…dite?"

"No…" says the man, "It's just that…"

----------------

At the same time, in a small territory called the Destiny Islands, Sora Shiryo, an average 17 year old, had just finished his 3rd year of high school.

Sora is an average built teen with bright blue eyes. The spiky haired brunette is the lead vocalist of "Live" a band he and his friends formed.

The bell had rung and students from first years to 4th years ran out the door like a colony of white ants scampering out of their anthill.

Unlike others, Sora and his friends, Kairi and Riku, waited for the crowd to diminish. It was as the expected: slowly but surely.

They started to walk out and headed for the boats at the port of the Village Island.

"Did you manage to get the contract from those record people at Twilight Town?" asked Sora to his red haired friend named Kairi.

Kairi Yukari shifted her violet eyes to the brunette and answered, "They won't reply until 2 more weeks."

"Lousy mail service," said the 4th year, platinum haired Riku Kotori.

"Well, we live in islands…" said Kairi, as if anticipating Riku to know that by now.

After a while they finally reached the port with small boats.

"So where you guys headed?" asked Sora.

"I thought we were headed to the play island?" inquired Kairi, "You know, to rehearse…"

"Yea, I know what it's for," spat Sora, "But my mom wants me to get home early…"

"Ah…" starts Riku, "The traditional 'you graduated another year' thing."

"You still do that Sora!" exclaims Kairi, "That was SO junior high."

"Shut up," says Sora, glaring.

Riku merely shrugged then said, "He has a good point though… I'm leaving for good so, it sounds like a good idea."

"Yea, I guess its best you spend time with your folks while you're still here," says Kairi.

"HAH! Are you kidding!" exclaims Riku, jumping in his boat, "It's all about the food, dang it!"

Sora and Kairi fell silent.

"You pig…" they say.

"So is Sora!" exclaims the red faced Riku.

"True…" says Kairi.

"HEY!" exclaims Sora just before he jumped in his boat.

"Well, I guess I'll see you two tomorrow," says Kairi, who was finally in her boat.

"Yea, see ya," says Sora who had started to row.

---------------------

Later that night, an alarm went off in the majestic Castle of Sylvarant. The Princess who was still wide awake ran to the throne room to find a red haired man and a silver blue haired man standing near the throne.

"Princess," starts the red haired man, "Orders VI and IV were spotted in the Shining Region."

"Eh?" starts the Princess, "But… why there!"

The other man shrugged and said, "Who will you deploy, your highness?"

"Order I," starts the Princess, "Take care of Orders VI and IV, take Order XIII to intercept any reinforcements."

The red haired man nodded and mentioned his right fist to the left part of his chest and said, "At once my lady."

"And try to avoid any casualties…" says the young princess.

"I shall try," says the red haired man, walking out of the throne room.

The other man then looked at the scared stiff girl, and said, "I know its hard… but know that there is never a time where there are no casualties."

The princess only looked worriedly at the man.

------------------------

Later on, in the Shiryo residence of Destiny Islands, Sora had just finished a little 'party' his mother had planned for him as a celebration of his 3rd year.

Sora was still too lazy to change to his pajamas and just laid on his bed, which was next to a window. He looked around his room and only then found that his room was really messy. Clothes were all over the floor and socks sticking out of the closet. His sapphire eyes then came across the window on his right.

There, he found something strange…

He looked closely…

The sky above the play island seemed to glow a red light. It was an uncommon color for the sky, especially at night.

He, again, looked even closer.

When he did, he didn't think he would see such a thing in his peaceful hometown.

He found men in blue uniforms fighting with men in red uniforms. A strange kind, but all the more upsetting.

'It must be a rehearsal from the drama club,' thought Sora, lying back down.

All of a sudden,

BOOM 

Sora leaped up and looked outside the window again. There was smoke coming from the island. The most surprising thing was that no one else seems to notice. Now… how in the right mind can ignore that? The townspeople.

Sora was utterly annoyed. Annoyed at the fact that no one could have POSSIBLY heard it.

Without thinking, he climbed down his window without letting his mother know. He dashed toward his boat at the port and went straight to the play island.

-----------------------------

When the lonely teen got there, multiple men in red uniforms were laying on the sandy ground. As if the soldiers were all dead.

He was about to run to the nearest one when he heard a voice. He quickly ran behind a pine tree, to hide from the murderers of the soldiers.

It was then that a red haired man walked in. Sad enough, Sora was unable to see his face and was only able to see what he wore. He wore a blue cape and a long sleeved shirt with spirals around the collar of the shirt and the top of the ankle tall boots. A cloth that was held by a belt covered the back of his blue pants.

Not only did the brunette think that this was an unnatural way or dressing nowadays, he found that the long-sleeved shirt had a strange symbol.

Soldiers in blue then came running to the man.

"Take everything and take it to the Chorus," said the red haired man.

The soldiers nodded and ran off.

It was then that another man in blue walked up to him. He was different though and unlike the red head, Sora was able to see his full face. This one had silver hair and aqua blue eyes. He wore a sleeveless shirt and a sleeveless jacket that went up to his knees. On his arms were long sleeves that reached up to his fingertips. The silver haired teen wore uneven shorts but wore ankle tall shoes.

Sora was just about to jump into the conversation when he felt something his shoulder and his vision went black…

-------------------------------

Since then he saw black until one morning, he opened his eyes. His vision slowly sharpened and he soon found himself in a prison.

'Wh…what…' was all he could say to himself.

He sat up slowly and looked at himself. He found that he wore clothes similar to those of the men from last night. The only difference that he wore a vest with spirals around the collar, a sleeveless shirt, blue pants, gloves, and boots.

"So you're awake," said a voice.

He nearly jumped up.

"You must have gotten lost," said the voice. Apparently it belonged to a young girl.

The young girl had dark blue hair and light blue eyes. She, as well, wore similar clothing. She wore a coat instead of long sleeves or gloves. And had a long skirt instead of pants or shorts.

Sora became speechless. He had never seen so many people wearing similar clothes before.

"Can I ask what exactly you're here for?" asked the girl.

Sora just sat there and said, "I… don't know…"

"Hmm…" said the girl, "I know you did something wrong. But if it was really bad, they'd tell me."

"They…?"

She only smiled and started to unlock the door.

"Just sneak out quietly, yea?" said the girl who had already started to run out.

Sora just sat there dumbfounded. It's all happening too fast. People with color-oriented clothes, then him in a prison.

Without anything else to do, he slowly walked out of the place and navigated through until finally he reached a bright place.

It was a courtyard. A bright one at that. Beautiful flowers were around every place and at the middle was a fountain and some white and teal birds.

He walked closer and as he did, he found the girl from earlier talking with the birds.

She only responded to him with a surprised look and said, "You were supposed to get out…"

"Ah… I got lost…" he said, "besides… I wasn't able to thank you…"

The girl stood up and as she started to run to him a teen jumped in front of her, facing Sora.

Sora got surprised and almost fell backward.

"Don't go any closer…" said the teen.

Sora looked closely at the teen that had just jumped in. He found that the teen was a blonde with blue eyes. He wore a long robe with a short blue cape. And on his collar was another spiral.

"I command you to step aside, Order XII!" exclaims the girl.

"My lady, this is a soldier of Scarlet Sky," starts the boy.

"He wasn't in the uniform nor does he have the presence of a Flame-"

"Princess, we cannot go by just that information alone!" exclaims the teen.

"Wait…PRINCESS!" exclaims Sora.

"But we can't just go about hurting the innocent…" said the princess, "He might be the savior…!"

"Wh…WHAT!" exclaims the already confused Sora.

The blonde teen looked back at Sora and said, "You know as well as anyone does… such a person doesn't exist…"

tsuzuku


	3. Verse II: One Side Story

Sunset Symphony

: Verse II :

One Side Story

In the depths of the grand palace, Sora Shiryo is in an examination room due to the Princess' request.

Sora sat up right on an examination bed, anxiously waiting why he was sent here.

It has only been an hour and he has been thinking:

Why didn't anyone see the soldiers that night?

And

Where is this place?

It was then that an attractive woman wearing the same kind of clothes as everyone in the castle walked in. She had brown hair that went past her waist. She had green eyes but her brown bangs covered her right eye. Sora was in awe of her beauty and forgot all what he just thought about.

"You were the prisoner the princess released, right?" the woman asked sternly.

Sora nodded absent-mindedly.

The woman walked to a nearby desk, took out a clipboard and pen, then started to write notes down.

"Umm…" Sora starts, but was interrupted.

"Name," demanded the woman.

Her cold expression caused Sora to jump slightly. Thinking that it would be best not to anger her, he answered, "Sora Shiryo."

The woman's eyes slightly went wider, as if surprised at his answer, but continued to write notes.

Sora tries to speak up again but was interrupted, yet again.

"Age," she said in the same tone.

Sora almost whimpered, but restrained himself and said, "Seventeen."

She continued again then stopped, placed it on the desk, grabbed a small flashlight, and walked toward the young boy.

"Open your eyes wide," she said. Sora didn't refuse. How could he? It's a girl, after all.

After a few seconds of checking each eye, the woman distanced herself from him and asked, "Are they contacts?"

"Eh?" replied Sora, "My eyes?"

The woman groan, "What else?"

"No…" replied the now timid Sora.

As if on cue, the dark haired princess and a man with silver blue hair walked into the room together.

The woman faced the two immediately, placed her right hand above her chest, and bowed slightly.

"As you were," said the silver blue haired man.

Sora looked up at the red-eyed man who had similar clothes as every one and had an uncommon robe around him.

It was then that Sora got impatient that he jumpe up and asked in such a manner that could aggravate anyone around him, "Who are you people?! Why am I here? What did you do to those people?!"

He then felt something against his back. The woman had pulled out a staff and intended to use it against him.

"How dare you speak to them as if-"

She was interrupted by the other man who said, "It's alright, Tear, its just a misunderstanding."

"Tear, please tend to the soldiers now. They are at the dock," the princess says kindly.

The woman, apparently named Tear, hesitated a bit then answered, "As you wish, my lady."

She salutes and walks off, calmly.

"Where to begin," said the blue silver haired man, leaning against the desk.

"You can start by telling me who you are," demanded Sora.

"Sorry about that," said the man, "I'm River Crystallis. Order II."

'Order?' Sora thought.

"Please forgive our rudeness," said the princess, bowing slightly, "I am Michiru Lynseia Crystallis the III."

River looked to his right to see the clipboard that Tear was writing on earlier.

"So you're Sora Shiryo, it says here," states River, "Do you have a father?"

Sora fell silent, sat back on examination bed, "Like hell I would."

The Princess walked over, took a seat next to Sora, and said, "On that night, what were you doing there?"

"What night?" he asked not thinking.

"The night where you saw soldiers on the island," said the man named River.

"I heard an explosion," starts Sora, looking away from both of them, "No one was doing anything so I went to check it out. Then when I got there I blacked out."

"Riveeerrr…" threatened the younger girl next to Sora.

"Ok, ok, my fault," said River, "REAAAALY sorry."

Sora stared at River with confusion.

"I was the one the knocked you out," said River, "but only cause I thought you were the enemy!"

Sora twitched.

"THAT'S why I'm here?" Sora says, not believing a word.

"Basically," said the princess.

"But where exactly IS here?" exclaims Sora, still confused.

The two fell silent a while.

"We'll tell you only if you don't tell your town about us," said the princess.

"I guess, I DO deserve to know, don't I?" says Sora, suspiciously.

"I guess so…" said the princess, hesitantly.

"You're like a mimic pair," mumbled River.

The princess grabbed the pillow next to her and tossed it to River's face. River almost fell backward and nearly made everything on the desk crash down.

The princess cleared her voice and began, "This is the Azure Sky. A world where Orerines and Ferines live together in harmony."

'Alternate universe?!' thought Sora, 'Am I in some sort of fanfic or something?!'

"Where you live is the Shining Sky Region," continued River, "It's where Urerines live."

"Oleninys?" said Sora.

The princess chuckled and said, "Orerines are people of the land. And Ferines are people of the sea."

Sora nodded, pretending to understand when he really had NO clue what she was saying.

"So why were there soldiers? How come no one else heard the explosion?" asked Sora.

"First off, the explosion wasn't meant to be heard," said River, "I don't know why you were able to."

"The killed off soldiers were the soldier of our enemy," said the princess.

"What enemy?" asks Sora.

"The Scarlet Sky," stated River, "It's the 3rd world parallel to these other two."

"We've been at war with them for over a hundred years," says the princess, sighing, "Now I really wish the savior was real."

Sora fell silent and said, "Didn't you suspect me of being the 'savior'?"

"Maybe," said the princess, "It must be fate that River knocked you out."

River twitched, but regained posture again and said, "Well, we'll prepare a ship to take you back then."

Sora didn't say anything, he tried to but the words he wanted to say didn't want to come out.

"It'll take about a week though," said River, "Considering the amount of fonim we have to use again to go back there."

"Yikes," says the Princess, "I guess he has to stay here for a while."

"In that case," starts River, "in exchange for his trip back, you guard the princess."

"GEH?!" exclaims Sora, blushing furiously, "WHY?! I DON'T FIGHT!"

"Then learn to!" exclaims River, glaring at the boy.

"Umm…" starts the princess, "About…Lu-"

"I'm going off," I won't be back till night fall."

"ke…"

Before she finished her sentence, he had already walked out and to the other part of the palace.

"GRRRRRR…" the young princess growled, "DAMN HIM! I CAN'T DEAL WITH THAT SELFISH NO-GOOD-"

"Princess…" starts Sora, quivering.

The princess calmed down a bit, faces him, and says, "Call me Skye."

"Eh?"

"Skye," says the young girl.

"W-why…?" he mumbled.

"Cause no one else will," said she.

"I-If you wish…" said Sora.

"What are you so nervous about now?" Skye asks, placing her arms on her waist.

"I can't fight…" he mumbled in a small voice.

"Ha?"

"I can't fight," he said a little louder.

"… You honestly need to speak louder,"

"I said I can't fight," said Sora in slightly louder voice from his normal tone.

"Are you serious…?" Skye asks dumbfoundedly.

He could only nod his head in shame.

"No problem," said the energetic girl, " I know a place where you'll learn the basics."

Sora looked up at her in confusion.

"Meet me in the front of the castle, makes sure no one sees you," she instructed.

Without having Sora respond, the young princess ran out the door and elsewhere in the castle.

Sora blinked a couple of times until he realized what he had to do. As he walke out the door, he looked his left… then to his right. And found only long hallways.

At the front of the castle was a young blonde female, closing her eyes. She leaned against the palace wall, hands behind her back. She wore a long sleeved dress with a stripe on the edges of her sleeves and on the bottom of the dress. The belt around her waist had a small bag on each side. She wore long, dark socks so that none of her leg skin showed. She had on short, white boots that matched with her dress.

It was then that our hero, Sora, walked out of the castle, exhausted.

"What in the world happened to you?" asked the young girl, opening her eyes to reveal light blue eyes.

"Ehh?" was all Sora said out of exhaustion.

He collapsed on the ground and sat up right.

"I don't know who the hell you are," says Sora, "but you better get out before guards see you…"

The girl glared at him and said, "Really now? I guess we're only strangers."

Sora looked up to the girl who had a sarcastic tone toward him.

"You really know how to make a lady wait, don't you?" the girl said, crossing her arms.

"Princess?!" exclaims Sora.

"HUSH!!!" screamed the girl.

"Y-y-y-y-you're BLONDE!" exclaims Sora in a quieter voice.

She didn't answer, instead she grabs his arm and dragged him into town.

"Where is this?" asked Sora moving along with the crowd and following Skye.

"The town square of Sylvarant," says Skye, "This the capital of the Azure Sky. It's the basic reason why it's so busy."

"So… Princess…" starts the brunette.

"Skye," said the other teen, "You can't address me like that out here in public."

"R-right…" says Sora, "Why are you blonde all of a sudden? Is it a wig to hide yourself?"

When they finally reached a more secluded area, the young princess says, "Partially… This is my natural hair color."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" exclaims Sora.

"Yea, I have to dye it every day," says Skye, "I have to look like an Orerines."

Sora only stared at her in confusion.

"River's my cousin," she continues, "his father was an orerines who had a ferines sister. That one's my mother."

"So you're a 'ferines'?" says Sora, "What the difference between the two?"

"A ferines always has gold or blonde hair with blue or brown eyes," says Skye, "Orerines can have any."

"I…I see," Sora says, who still haven't grasped the idea of the people of the sea and land.

"Here we are!" exclaims the young blonde.

In front of them was an old, rundown, dojo. Sora could only stare at it in almost full disgust. How was he supposed to learn anything here?

"CLOUD!" screams the princess.

Sora got startled by her action and fell backward. He didn't think anyone was living in there still, but he decided to restrain his thoughts so as to not hurt the princess.

She screamed the name again.

"I heard you the first time!" exclaims a voice from inside.

'Someone lives in this dump?!' thought the surprised Sora.

Out came a man around the age of 25 wearing dark attire. His blonde hair was spiked… heavily… would that be the word? His blue eyes reflected off the sky. And to Sora, his first reaction was: 'A ferines?' At least he got the basic idea of it…

"Skye?" says the man, "You decide to show up after all these years?"

"Sorry," says the princess scratching her head, "Er… my folks grounded me."

"For 3 years?"

"… School!"

"Even the weekends?"

"Did I not say I was grounded?!"

The man gave in, knowing he won't be given a straight answer anytime soon, and sighed. He turned to Sora, who was behind Skye the whole time.

"Who's the kid?" he asks.

"Ah," starts Skye, "This is Sora, he's you're new student."

"You don't tell me what to do, young lady," says Cloud, "besides, I've retired."

"EHHH?" says Skye, "A young, handsome, attractive man like YOU? Retire?"

'This isn't going anywhere,' thought Sora.

"Sora, from now on, address this man, Cloud Strife, as your sensei," says Skye triumphantly.

"How much are you willing to pay?" the man named Cloud says.

"How much ya need?" inquired the female ferines.

"Depends," says Cloud, "How much experience does this kid have?"

"Zilch."

"500,000 Gald."

"Don't I get a discount?"

"499,999."

"C'mon be serious!"

"499,998. Final offer."

'A princess looking for a discount…' thought Sora, almost in a state of shock, 'Aren't they supposed to be uverly rich? … I've seen it all.'

Skye groans then says, "C'mon! This is Sora Shiryo! The next hero of Azure Sky! He'll be the one to kick Scarlet Sky's ass!"

"Shiryo?"

'Why is every one twitching whenever they hear my last name?' thought Sora silently, almost suspiciously.

Cloud hesitated for a while then said, "1,000,000 gald."

"EHH??!!" exclaims both Sora and Skye.

"CLOOOUUDD!" exclaimed Skye again.

"I'm just kidding," says the elder ferines, "100,000 gald. Final. I'm not doing any lower."

"Good enough," said Skye.

"That's expensive!" exclaims Sora, "You won't ANY lower?!"

Cloud only glared at him saying, "Are you complaining already?"

"N-no… of course not…" says Sora.

Back in the palace, a young ferines teen with blue eyes around the same age as the princess ran across the hallways, as if she lost something.

At the same time a silver haired 19-year-old male was running around as well.

At an intersection, the young girl tripped and without looking, the young male tripped over her, face first.

"OWIEE!" exclaims the ferines teen.

The male sat up, holding onto his forehead, and said, "Dammit, Colette, don't trip at the corner…"

"I'm sorry…" says the girl named Colette, "Have you seen the princess, Faroush-sempai? She skipped study session…"

"I was looking for you!" exclaims Faroush, "I though she slept in your class! She hasn't come to her training sessions!"

"Th…that's not right," said Colette, brushing herself from the floor, "I just spoke to Fenimore, her highness isn't in her room… Maybe she's at the fountain?"

"Impossible…!" exclaims the platinum haired male, "I just came from there!"

Just as they thought of more possibilities, a male ferines teen ran in.

"IX! IV!" he shouts. It was the male the princess was with early this morning. (A/N: refer to chapter 1)

"Walter-sempai," starts Colette, "What's going on?"

"A member of Scarlet Sky's Order was spotted in the town," states the ferines named Walter.

"Which one?" asks Faroush.

"There's two of them," says Walter, "It's Asch and Emelious."

"Aren't they…?" inquired Colette.

"The traitors…" continued Faroush.

"Commander River and Major Tear are out of the city as is Kratos," says Walter, "What are your orders, prince Faroush?"

"They wouldn't be much of a threat, but the princess isn't anywhere in the palace," says Faroush, "Search for her, if you run into the two traitors, try and drive them out."

Tsuzuku


	4. Verse III: Blue Traitors

Sunset Symphony

: Verse III :

Blue Traitors

FLOP!

Was the sound when Sora crashed the dust ground as he trained.

"Get up, wimp," said Cloud swaying his sword to the right.

Sora quickly got back up, without brushing off the dust on his face and clothes. He was training with his new teacher out at the back of the old dojo. From behind him was Skye, sitting on the stairs of the house, cheering for him… not that cheering would help him one bit.

The brunette got back into a fighting stance, ready for anything, as it would seem.

"Loosen your grip," demanded Cloud, "Learn how to relax your fingers even in an important battle."

"How could you say that?" said Sora, almost whimpering.

"Ey, Cloud!" exclaims Skye, standing up from her seat. The two males turned to her, waiting for her to speak up.

"It's almost sundown," starts Skye, "We have to get back."

"So you can get back to being 'grounded'?" teased Cloud.

"Oh hush!" exclaims Skye, "I'm sure Sora'll come back tomorrow."

"Better," says Cloud, glaring at the brunette, "I'll have to ask you for the pay tomorrow then."

"Oh, no problem!" says Skye, "I'll send it right over."

With that the two teens walked out of the training facility and back into town.

When they reached the city, everyone was back at their homes, and it was already lights out.

"This is strange…" said Skye, "It's still pretty early…"

"Skye… there's food steps…" says Sora in low voice. The two rushed into an alley and kept quiet.

To their luck, the footsteps grew louder. Their misfortune got worst when they find that the two men who created the sounds stopped close to where they were hiding.

"It looks like no one's here," says a deep voice.

Another voice then spoke up and said, "We can always storm into the apartment and burn it down."

"That would be suicide," said the other, "This is their territory."

As the two conversed, Skye silently mentions Sora to follow her, but to the worst of luck, as Sora turned the other way, he hits a trash can, and making it crash to the ground.

"WHO'S THERE!" exclaims one of the men.

Without thinking, Skye grabbed a near by pipe, mentioned to Sora to stay still, and rush out attacking the two.

One of the men blocked with his sword and was able to repel the attack.

The man had long red hair with spikes on the top of his head and green eyes. He wore black and red attire with dark armor underneath his cape.

The other man appeared to be blonde with brown eyes wearing similar attire as the red headed man.

"If it isn't a ferines," said the blonde man.

"Who are you people?" asked Skye, acting as if she was a normal civilian.

The blonde man laughed hysterically, "A ferines wants to know who I am?"

Skye remained silent, so she wouldn't blow her cover. But as she concentrated more on the blonde man, the red headed man pushed her off roughly, but she was able to keep her balance.

"Why are you up so late, young lady? It's past your curfew," said the blonde, drawing his sword.

Skye took a battle stance, a common one so that they wouldn't realize she was a noble.

The blonde lunged an attack at her but as she blocked, the pipe broke in half and she stumbled down.

Sora almost screamed out her name, but nothing would come out of his mouth.

"I hate hurting a person with a pretty face," said the blonde, "but you didn't know what you were in for."

He readied another attack, but just as he is about to attack, Sora jumped in and tackled the man down.

"Sora?!" exclaims Skye. As he stood back up, Skye ran to him and whispered to him, "Idiot!"

The red headed man then readied his sword, but seemed to have no intention of attacking.

The blonde, on the other hand, stood back up with the angriest expression to date.

"You shouldn't attack defenseless people," said Sora, with an angry tone matching the blonde man's expression.

The blonde started to laugh hysterically again, after a few seconds he says, "How romantic! An orerines and a ferines!"

Sora remained silent, as he does not know the big difference between the two races.

"It makes me sick to look at," the man says. A small orb around his neck started to shine brilliantly. The light then manifested into a black and red griffon and flew behind him.

"A teriques?!" exclaims Skye in shock, "You're… a ferines?!"

"HIM?!" exclaims Sora, shielding his eyes against the wind the 'teriques' was creating.

'This isn't right…' though Skye, 'How am I supposed to… I don't even have my own yet…'

Without any warning, the griffon released a gust of wind with deadly winds shaped as spikes attacked the two. And to Skye's surprise, Sora covered her from the attack.

Within seconds, the attack stopped.

Sora released the shaking Skye, who took a step back from him.

The brunette turned to the 2 other men without a word. His blue irises then slowly started to turn into a shade of red.

"Sora?" starts Sky, nervous as ever, "What did you…?"

'Red eyes?' thought the red headed man.

The blonde started to chuckle, then said, "Interesting."

He lunged an attack at the brunette, but Sora held out his hand and a sword made of fire started to ignited upon his hand.

Sora ran toward him aswell, but time stopped. The ferines man's attack missed and was hurt on his left shoulder with the sword of flame. But the red headed man rushed to the middle and stabbed Sora…

-------------

Hours later, Sora wakes up and found himself in a spacious room. When he tried to sit up, he felt a stabbing pain on the right side of his stomach. The brunette looked at himself and found that he was shirtless but bandages were around his stomach. He then began to wonder… how he got such a fatal wound. Regardless, he stood up from the bed, took his shirt, put it on, and walked out of the room.

Already lost from entering the hallways, he decides to give the princess a late visit. He walked to the right and eventually; he found a slightly opened door.

Knowing that he was supposed to give others privacy, his curiosity got the best of him and got him to take a peek inside. He didn't see anything and decided to walk in quietly.

He found that he was in an art room where sculptures and paintings were kept. The beauty of such works got Sora to wondering why it wasn't guarded as heavily. He turned to his right and found a painting covered with a cloth.

Still curious to find out, Sora removed the cover, and found a very peculiar painting.

It was of the Princess Skye in her casual clothes and glowing, blue hair with a teen that strikingly looks like him. They were embracing each other in a shining ocean, as if the ocean itself was happy for the pairing.

Entranced by the painting, he heard someone enter the room, and he quickly covered the painting with the cloth.

He didn't make it in time, but instead, he found that the woman named Tear walked in.

"I SWEAR I'm not stealing," Sora whispered.

"I know, you look to wimpy to carry such a thing anyway," said Tear.

It was true; the painting was as big at Sora himself. Whether Sora took that as an insult or a compliment, we don't know.

"Don't worry it's not like the princess has an obsession with you since you came," said Tear.

Sora looked at the elder woman confusingly.

"She had this dream since she was a young girl," said Tear, "She would always tell me about how she wanted the dream to come true. Eventually, she wanted to keep it locked away."

"And then?"

"She painted it and forgot about it," said Tear, "It's her way of forgetting things."

Sora could only look up the painting again before heading back to his room. But just as he turned the knob, Tear spoke up saying, "You're leaving tomorrow… Walter got enough soldiers to create the fonim needed to get the ship going."

Sora turned back slightly, but as he was about to speak up, Tear interrupted him for the third time today, "If you want to see the princess, she's at the fountain."

With that, Sora began to walk out of the room and went on a journey to find the princess within the castle.

After 20 minutes, he began to hear a tune…

_Yatto tadori tsuketa ne  
futari meguria ega basho ni_

toki no dakenaniimo ne  
hoshi wa tanata kimi e  
tooi itami no sanata  
megai gooruode

kokoro kitsuki  
urashita hito ni de  
dakedo matashi o  
mitsukete kureta 

He walked toward where he heard the singing voice.

_aruta sekai no hatete  
fureta kiseki no iro  
shiroi yuki no you ima  
sotto fureaiyuku  
anata tootashi futari de toke ai   
yatto honto no jibun ni nareru_

He got closer and closer.

"MIEU"

He got startled and fell on a bush.

The song stopped. But Sora didn't notice this since he was too busy trying to get out.

He looked up and found a hand being held out to him. His eyes followed the hand, then to the arm, and when he looked at the person's face, it was the princess looking down at him.

Sora took the hand and was able to get back to his feet.

"How's your wound?" asked the princess with a worried face.

"It's fine… I guess…" said Sora, scratching the back of his head out of embarrassment.

"That's good…" Skye mutters, "I have to thank him for that…"

Sora looked at her confusingly since he wasn't able to hear.

"It's nothing," said the princess. She walked toward the fountain and sat down on the edge of it.

Sora's slow reaction only let him notice that she re-dyed her hair back to the dark color.

"Umm… when I was looking for you, I heard some singing," said the brunette, "was that you by any chance?"

"Am I that loud?" She says startled, almost falling off her seat.

"I guess it is you…" he said, "You have a really nice voice… You should be a vocalist in my world!"

He grinned at her but there was no reaction from her face this time.

"I'd like to…" said the princess. She stood up and faced the fountain and looked at herself.

"But?" asked Sora, thinking that there was more to what she was saying.

"I can't," says Skye, "I have to stay here… locked up in my own palace… this must be how he felt…"

Sora didn't hear the last part and said, "But… you were able to go out today…"

"I sneaked out," said she, "my bodyguard isn't around right now, so I have to stay here."

There was silence between the two and then Sora spoke up.

"Well…" Sora says, "It becomes a matter of others' freedom, you know?"

"That's what River said," she says, almost in an irritated voice.

"Isn't it true though?" said Sora, "If you love your country… you would do anything for them."

"I keep saying that to myself," says Skye, "But… it's just hard…"

"I was taught that you have to do everything you can to be happy," says Sora, walking up to her, "I'll help you, you just have to smile and…"

"And?"

"Kick the asses of those who get in your way."

The princess slammed her right hand on Sora's back and caused him to lose balance and fall into the water with a huge splash.

"What was that for?!" he exclaims, sitting up.

"No reason," she says, crossing her arms, "just felt like doing that."

As she spoke, she felt water splash into her face.

"HEY!"

"'I just felt like doing that,'" Sora mocked.

"Youuuu…"

And so, the two began a battle within the fountain, getting soaked, smiling and laughing.

Soon, the silver blue haired prince walked through the halls and got to the dock behind the palace.

He approached the blonde named Walter, who was speaking with a soldier.

"A word please," demanded River.

The Soldier ran off and Walter faced him.

"What's with the tone, commander?" asked Walter.

"Cancel the departure."

"…What?"

"You heard what I said, Delques."

"… Why…? I don't understand…"

"He has more use to us than expected…"

Tsuzuku


End file.
